New Years Eve 2010 I sat down with my family at the kitchen table and we all set goals for 2011. The goal I set for myself concerning my weight was "to consistently weigh 145 pounds.". It's just a bit of a challenge for me to keep that weight. Today I tipped the scale at 149. There are several factors that will cause your weight to fluctuate throughout a week, so you can give yourself a small window of + or - 2 to 3 pounds. You can see that I have a little work to do myself.
I want to give you a method of picking a weight for your target. There are several ways you could go about this. You could have a goal to be a certain jean or dress size, and not even be concerned about the weight. You might pick a weight from you glory days, like when you got married or when you were the wrestling champ in high school. But I recommend finding what your Body Mass Index (BMI) is and using that as your target. Your BMI is a calculation based on your height and weight and applies to both men and women.
Before we look at calculating your BMI, let's take a look at why you want yours to be lower in the first place. A higher BMI is a risk factor for heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancers.
Have high blood pressure? It has been estimated that a pound of fat has approximately 1 mile of capillary blood vessels supplying blood to it. Pop quiz...if you have 30 pounds of extra fat on your body, how many miles of extra blood vessels does your heart have to pump blood through? Too many!
Speaking of a pound of fat, here is a picture of what it looks like.
If that's not enough for you, here is what 5 pounds looks like.
How many of you just threw up in your mouth? Luckily, we have skin to cover that up. It should be easy to see that having an extra 5 or more pounds of this stuff is just not going to be beneficial to you.
Now that you're motivated, let me show you how to find your healthy BMI.
In this case, I'm not going to worry about the actual calculation. It's just too easy to google a BMI calculator and plug in your height and weight. Instead, here is a handy chart. I like it because it let's me quickly see different scenarios, such at which weight I will move from being classified as obese to overweight, and overweight to healthy.
To use the chart find your height in inches on the left and your weight on the top. Where the two rows intersect is your BMI. Use the key at the bottom to find out where you are classified.
When I first found out about BMI, I was 213 pounds. With my 66 inch frame, that put me at a BMI of about 34, or in the obese category. I can tell you that was not easy news to swallow. So if you find yourself in the same boat, I'll tell you that I can relate. The good news is that you are in control of that number, and can lower it over time with your diet and an active lifestyle.
I started about 23 pounds over the "overweight" category. That's irony...I had to lose 23 pounds just to be overweight. So that became goal #1, and a milestone in my weight loss. When I got down to 180 pounds, it was actually fun telling people, "I'm not obese anymore, I'm only overweight."
Notice there is a range for your optimal weight. I've chosen 5 pounds below the threshold so that I have a little wiggle room for my weight to fluctuate as it will naturally. And did you see that the chart does not consider age? So no excuses just because you've seen a few more Christmases than the rest of us.
Your ultimate goal should be to get into the "optimal" category. Once you are there, you can re-evaluate what weight you want to target. Maybe you still have some love handles you need to get rid of. It's not just about vanity. Love handles is just a euphemism for adipose(fat tissue). Remember that for every pound of this extra fat, you heart is pumping through another mile of capillary tubing.
For some of you with higher BMIs it might be a long journey to get to your optimal weight. Just keep this in mind. You don't have to reach that weight to get health benefits. With every pound of fat that you lose, your body is getting healthier. Your chance of heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure will be decreasing.
Before you get all Nazi on me trying to lose every ounce of fat, know that our goal is not to get rid of all body fat. Fat is important to our bodies, and we will always have some. It provides cushioning for our organs, insulation to our bodies, and is a place for storing fuel for our metabolic engines.
Next we'll look at what "spot burning" is and why it doesn't work. Until then, why not take a few minutes to play with a BMI calculator and find what your optimal weight is. Set a goal weight, write it down, and place it where you can see it daily.
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